Recent rains have mixed impact on area lakes

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, April 26, 2010

While the High Plains has seen an abundance of moisture over the winter and so far this spring, that doesn’t necessarily mean area lake levels have improved.

A lot depends on location and timing, and officials at area lakes confirm just how wide the disparity is.

For example, a system that moved through the area in mid-April brought a rise of 5 1/2 feet to Lake Mackenzie northeast of Silverton. The same system brought just a 5-inch rise to Lake Meredith north of Amarillo.

Subsequently, attitudes are much different at the two lakes.

Dean Johnson, business manager for the Mackenzie Municipal Water Authority, is upbeat, especially since Mackenzie is coming off a year of drastic measures after the lake reached a low of 69.3 feet.

In January 2009, the authority banned skiing and personal watercraft from the lake because of safety concerns. The water level was so low that obstructions had moved close enough to the surface to pose a problem. Although Mackenzie continued to allow fishing boats, Johnson acknowledged that the restrictions cost the lake a lot of business over the past year.

Now, officials have lifted those bans and are hoping it will be business as usual.

"We’re hoping we can get a little more traffic," Johnson said.

Approximately 75 miles to the northwest, folks at the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority are frustrated.

Chad Pernell, deputy general manager for CRMWA, chuckled as he acknowledged that recent storms have been of very little benefit to Lake Meredith.

As of Monday, the lake was at 46.29 feet after reaching a record low in January of 44.96 feet.

Pernell said as he watched weather satellite images of the recent system when it moved across the region, he saw it get to Amarillo and then swing off to the northeast and mostly miss Lake Meredith’s watershed, which covers about 6,000 square-miles of the northern Panhandle.

"It is frustrating, and that’s what we’ve seen over the last 10 years," he said.

Pernell explained that studies have shown that Lake Meredith’s watershed, in general, has experienced a fairly consistent 2-foot per year deficit over the past 10 years. That explains much of the dramatic decline the lake has experienced over that time period.

South of Plainview, White River Lake near Spur realized a rise of 2 feet, 10 inches from recent rains. The last big rise that lake got was in September 2008 when it rose 11 feet, according to Mickey Rogers, general manager for the White River Municipal Water District.

"We’ve been riding that," he said.

Still, Rogers is happy the lake got a modest rise recently.

"We’re still 24 feet below our spillway, but we were tickled to have that," he said.

Finally, Lake Alan Henry, located south of Post, is in the best shape of any area lake as far as water levels.

According to Priscilla Ary, Alan Henry was about 5 feet low before the rains. However, recent rains brought it back to 2 1/2 feet above the spillway, and Ary said the lake still is about a foot over the spillway.

Both she and Rogers said that fishing traffic has been good at White River and Alan Henry, although it still is a bit cool for skiing and other water sports.

About the only complaint Ary had was that the rains had muddied the water at Alan Henry and that has slowed fishing some. Otherwise, she said, April always is one of that lake’s busiest months.

Back up north, Pernell said folks at Lake Meredith are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping their watershed can catch some rain over the next few months.

"Supposedly, El Nino is going to have a positive effect on us," he said.